Torment of the Mind
by Inked Out on Speed
Summary: YAOI! Poor Seiji. I think some torture is in order for him.. How is he going to tell Touma how he feels? SeijiXTouma
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: **This story is Yaoi. I've mentioned this before. If you don't like it, don't read it. I really don't know where I'm going with this, this chapter is obviously not the last, but it could turn out to be 3 chapters... oras many as30. Who knows?

**Pairings: **SeijiXTouma, not sure other than that, 'cause this is one of those "go with the flow" things.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Ronin Warriors, or Yoroiden Samourai Troopers.

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So close. His pale face was close enough for me to touch. I settled for just watching him. His eyebrows were drawn together in concentration. His lip twitched up slightly on the left side when he read over something that amused him. Every so often he'd reach up and push escaoing hairs back behind his ears. He looks up. 

"What?"

"Hm?"

"You're staring."

_Damn…_

"I was just thinking. Sorry"

He looks back down at his book. A blue lock of hair falls gracefully down to rest on his forehead.. He doesn't notice, and I am tempted to reach over and brush it out of his face. A few minutes go by, and he looks up again.

"Am I really that interesting to watch?"

I blush. _Yes._

"I just zoned out, and I happened to be looking in your direction." I put as much irritation as I could into my words. _Smooth, Seiji, good comeback._

He gets up and walks over to my chair. He leans down, almost close enough to kiss, but sadly stops just short. _Damn again. _He puts a hand on either side of my face, and turns my face to the side, opposite his chair.

"There. Think away," he says with a crooked little smile.

My cheeks are still tingling where he had touched them, so I must have given him a look that was a little less than intelligent.

He sighed. "I can't read when I know people are looking at me… Or in my _direction_," he adds with a smirk.

I hear the chair creak as he settles back into his book. I am debating whether or not to just continue staring at him, and hope that he figures out why it is that I'm "zoning out" with my head in his direction. _Hahaha. Yeah right. Nice thought, but the chances are still zero._ Deciding not to, I sigh and get up. _One of these days you are going to have to tell him. You can't live like this forever._ Walking out of the room, and just barely resisting the urge to ruffle his hair as I pass by, I am inclined to agree with my conscience. My stomach, doing back flips at the thought of my secret getting out, disagrees. _Not today though. Later... next week maybe… or next month… or...never._

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**_Author's Notes: _**Well, that's it. What do you think? My first fanfic ever. WOot. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: **Thanks to the people who reveiwed :) Ahhh... Who's looking forward to a nice warm-and-fuzzies chapter? ME! Uhm... Enjoy... :P

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em...

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"You should just get it over with.'' Shuu said, leaning against the railing beside me.

"Get what over with?" _Uh-oh._

"You know what I mean." Sighing, he rested his chin on his hands. "You should talk to Touma."

Contrary to popular belief, Shuu is actually very perceptive. It is scary sometimes, how accurate he is when he interprets emotions. I should know, being quite good at it myself.

"I can't."

"Why not?" He baits, one blue-gray eyebrow raised.

"Because." _Shit. _

"Oh." Shuu shifts around, so that he is facing towards the house, with his elbows on the rail. "You know, for someone with such powerful psychic abilities, you're sure stunted when it comes to Touma's feelings." He looks at me sadly, "Unless you're doing that deliberately."

I can't hold his gaze, so I look out at the sunset. I don't want to know how Touma really feels, because I'm afraid it won't be what I feel. "I'm afraid he won't love me the way I love him." I say out loud.

"I know." Shuu's eyes appear occupied in thought.

"How did you -"

"I didn't. Shin came to me first," he smiled. "We defeated the Dynasty. That created a bond between us all, so on a basic level, we can all sense each other's feelings, right? It's likely that he already knows how you feel. Touma's probably just waiting for you to act on it. At least, that's what I think. If you want a second opinion, go to Shin. And if Ryou wakes up anytime soon, you could ask him too."

"Why don't we just have a group pow-wow with Nasty and Jun too?"

Shuu rolled his eyes at me. "Just giving you some options dude."

I shook my head. "I'd feel like some giddy little schoolgirl if I asked Ryou and Shin what they thought about what Touma thinks about me."

Laughing, Shuu nodded.

"Guys, come on in, dinner's on the table." Shin's voice came through the patio doors.

Whatever seriousness that had previously existed on Shuu's face, was instantly wiped away at the mention of food; and replaced with a huge, if not ravenous, grin. I followed him into the kitchen, where Shin stood in front of the stove.

"Wat'cha makin'?" asked Shuu, twining his arms around Shin's waist from behind.

"Sometimes I think you love me just because I can cook," the latter pouted. Shuu pretended to consider the statement for a moment. After a pause he said huskily,

"You can do a lot more than cook well, Shin."

Face bright red, Shin pulled away and turned around. Shuu seized the opportunity and gently pecked Shin on the lips, before stepping around him to grab plates to set out on the table. For Shin's sake, I too decided to act like nothing had happened, and started pulling cutlery out of a drawer. I walked into the dining room behind Shuu, carrying an armload of knives and forks, shaking my head.

"Poor Shin. You're such a tease, Shuu," stated Touma, sweeping into the room with cups in hand.

"I know, but I can't help it, he's just so cute." Shuu replied. "Especially when he's embarrassed."

As we finished setting the table, Nasty came in with Shin, carrying a salad and a bottle of home made French dressing, a recipe inherited from her mother. "He's been asleep for two days now; I'm starting to get worried."

"Ryou's just exhausted. Using the Kikoutei isn't exactly easy on the body. Give him some time to rest, he'll be fine." Shin soothed, setting a large bowl of miso soup in the middle of the table. I noticed that his cheeks were still tinged a light pink, and mentally chuckled. Obviously Touma and Shuu also noticed, because Shuu sat down with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, and Touma let out a snicker and hid it by pulling back his chair with a loud thump.

"Where's Jun?" asked Nasty, also taking a seat.

"I'll get him, he's outside, I think," said Shin, jumping up, cheekbones still flushed.

Nasty, Touma and I all shared amused smiles, while Shuu pretended not to notice, and busied himself with his soup.

By the time Shin came back, with Jun in tow, we had all started eating, and his complexion had more or less returned to normal.

××××××

Lying in my bed, on the edge of a dream, I thought about what Shuu had said, and wondered if Touma really did know how I felt. I thought about opening up my shield against his thoughts, and decided against it. I'll ask him myself… Hum…. Tomorrow..._Coward._

"Shut up." I told myself out loud, and rolled over._ Stupid conscience._

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**Note: **Don't you love Shuu/Shin fluff? Hee... Just so this doesn't confuse people, this part of the story is right after the troopers "defeated" Arago the **first** time. -runs away-


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: **And the plot thickens. Ahhh, Seiji's life sucks, doesn't it? Thanks to those who reveiwed. And Ko-chan? Sahana? This is for you guys especially. Love you. Banana Capris, I couldn't get them out of my head...

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**Chapter 3**

"Seiji."

"Mrmmblmrpher…." I roll over and crack open an eyelid. Bright sunlight and Shin's smiling face greet me.

"Come on. We need to make a trip to town today for groceries. Get your pale ass out of bed, and help me make a list," says the entirely-too-cheerful- at-the-crack-of-dawn-teenager-who-happens-to-be-my-roommate.

As I sit up, Shin tosses a shirt and a pair of jeans at my head. Glancing around an illegally bright yellow tank-top, I glimpse the alarm clock. I do not like what I see. Flopping back down onto my bed, I pull the covers over my head, and will the world to go away. Shin-The-Shit-Disturber has other plans… and the ammunition to back them up – I'm ticklish, and he knows it.

"Oooooo… you can't stay under there all day."

"Yes I can."

"Not while I'm around." I can hear him coming closer, and the bed squeaks as he climbs up beside me. "You have until the count of three."

I squirm away from him.

"One." He moves in closer, knee resting against my ribs. "Two." His fingers dance down my back and I shimmy further across the mattress. "Three. Alright, you're going to get it." Shin went in for the full blown assault. He grabbed my sides, right above my hipbones, and squeezed. Because I was still under the blanket, I couldn't see him; I had expected Shin to spare me a little mercy so early in the morning, not to go straight for my most sensitive area first. Needless to say, it sent an almost unbearable spasm through my entire body. Before I could recover, Shin (a.k.a. Satan), squeezed again, and over, and over again. Thrashing, I tried to get away from the auburn-haired demon, but I was still entangled in my quilt, so, being over-frivolous in my efforts to free myself, I fell right off the bed.

"Soooo…. Gunna get up now?"

Huffing and Puffing, I struggle out of my bonds and glare at Shin. I feel murderous. "Five A.M. is not a decent hour to be awake."

"Well," he said, handing me the jeans and shirt that I had lost, "Technically, its quarter after."

I threw a pillow at him and stalked off to the bathroom.

××××××

Coming downstairs, I found Shin, as usual, in the kitchen, making pancakes.

"No one else is going to be up for another hour at least."

"I know… I made them just for you and the very unhappy, blue-haired, sloth teenager who will be going into town with you," said Shin, pouring batter into the pan.

"You woke Touma and asked him to go into town at five-thirty in the morning?" I asked, incredulous. I thought Shin valued his life more than that.

"No, you're going to." He said, with a pointed look. "You can't run forever."

I glared at him. "You've been talking to Shuu."

"No, you're blatantly obvious."

I pouted. "Well, I'm not going anywhere near him until at least seven."

"As long as you do; but you don't get pancakes till he gets up, you realize."

"I'm fine; I'm going for a walk, anyways."

"Who am I going to talk to?" Shin's pouting at me.

"I don't know. I'm not talking to you. So it doesn't make a difference whether I'm here or not."

Shin laughs, "You'll forgive me."

I walk out the kitchen door into the sunlit porch. "Yeah, you're right, but you can talk to your whale slippers until then."

Breathing in the cool morning air, I started to walk across the damp grass. Reaching the dirt road, I started to jog. Only once I had started to run, did I let my mind wander. The physical exertion kept my psyche in check. When I got about ten kilometers away from Nasty's house, I figured it was safe to drop some of my mental shields. Reducing my shields to about half of their capability was like a gust of cold air through my mind. Refreshing! Now I could truly let my psyche drift. Flowing around my body, then high into the air, I felt the slight vertigo that came with psychic wanderings. Reaching out, I could feel the life of trees and small animals around me. Going deeper and deeper into time and light; a frenzied rush of senses and thoughts. I should stop, but I can feel something immense just a little farther into the swirling mass of memory, touch, taste, sight and sound. A sense of foreboding is in the back of my consciousness, but at the moment, I am completely out of control. I am carried through the vortex against my will, and suddenly I am in front of the Thing. It is immense, and entirely overwhelming. I know that I need to keep running, but the effort of sustaining and retaining my psyche has physically drained me. I am thrust forward, into The Thing…

Pain drowns out all of my other senses; right now, I have no capacity to feel anything else Images flash through me, Arago reigns in my thoughts… past battles… And… some that did not happen?... Furious pain… _Flash…_Streets of an English speaking town…._Flash_… A young man dead at my feet… _Flash…_Masho … and a woman?... Kaosu…no, Shuten… Shin and Shuu, beside me…Ryou screams… _Flash_… Kaosu erupting into a bridge of light. Death is all around. I can't breathe… Someone...Help me… I can't…

××××××

"Well, their pancakes are going to get cold, don't you think?" Shin directed the question at his slippers. "I guess, since Seiji isn't back yet," he glanced at the stove clock, "I had better wake Touma up, so that he'll be ready when Seiji gets back." The gray whales with their beady black eyes didn't answer him. Frowning, Shin looked at the clock again. Where was Seiji? It was a quarter to seven… Shin was still pondering that thought, on his way upstairs to Touma and Shuu's room, when a sudden onslaught of pain overcame his conscious senses. Regaining his balance, he tried to dull the throbbing pain in his temples. It was Seiji… and he was in trouble. Another cry for help sent Shin reeling into the banister. As he slipped down against the guard rail, someone caught his arm, and he was pulled into an embrace. Looking up, vision swimming, Shin saw Shuu's pained face as another wave of agony swept over them both.

"What the FUCK!" came Touma's contribution from the top of the stairs.

"Seiji…" Shin couldn't quite find the breath to say much.

"Where did he go?" Shuu asked, as Touma knelt next to them.

"Walking…"

Touma said nothing, and, foregoing the rest of the stairs completely, he vaulted over the banister and sprinted out the door.

Shuu looked down at Shin, worried, and glanced back in the direction that Touma had taken.

"Go." Shin resolved, sitting up on his own.

"Don't you dare get up and walk around." Shuu sprinted down the stairs to follow Touma.

××××××

A gentle, refreshing breeze whisked over my face, calling me back. I obliged, and followed it. I had become numb enough to The Thing to more or less get through it without passing out. Some of my panic had absolved, and now all I wanted was to sleep… die … whatever would forsake this pain. The breeze pulled at me again, and this time, I could feel the lethargic, powerful energy of the earth pull with it. Farther away, I could sense the aqua calm that must have been Shin. Regaining physical consciousness, I blinked up at Touma and Shuu, moaned, and promptly rolled over to expel the contents of my stomach on the ground. I then proceeded to lose my precious, hard earned consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: **Well, I have to get this up for the weekend, because I promised Ko-chan I would, and now I'm leaving on a trip, so, consider it an early gift :P Thank you for all of your reveiws. Because of 1) My impatience/laziness and 2) The amout of time I have, this chapter is not Bata-ed. Or even really seriously corrected by me, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes that really bother anyone. Especially the tense discrepancies. When I have more time, I will come back and fix it all (probably) but for now, this is what ya get :) Again, I haven't seen the series for years, and I've done as much reasearch as I can to make this accurate. Some things were changed on purpose waves around artistic liscence And well, I worked hard on this chapter... I'd appreciate feedback.. heh... and the more reveiws I get, the faster I update cough... Thanks though.. really.. they rock my socks.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, or (if it's copyrighted) any of the names given for "hot dog"

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**Chapter Four**

A frankfurter danced and twirled around me, exaggerating its erotic moves with a fake, drawn out come-hither look. Great. Out of all of the foods to be dancing around me, I'm stuck with a hotdog. Not only a hotdog, but a whore hot dog. Glancing around myself, trying to find means of escape, I find only grass. And about twenty paces to the right, a willow tree. Maybe hotdogs can't climb trees? Hoping it was so, I started in the direction of the tree, only to be hindered further by the pesky wiener; it invades my personal space, rubbing its lithe, rubbery body up against mine. This is the last straw. Grabbing the offensive sausage by the throat, I swing it above my head in a circle and bring it slamming down to the earth, WWF(1) style.

Suddenly, I find myself gasping for breath, thrashing about, pinned between the frankfurter and the ground. Crap. There's nothing with more vengeance than a pissed off wiener whore. The hotdog commences bitch-slapping me, and I try to beat it of, pushing fruitlessly against its processed hide. Screaming for help, and losing consciousness fast. Suddenly, the slapping stops. The footlong demon has found other means of torture: shaking me until my neck snaps, and calling my name, purely to annoy me, I'm sure.

"Seiji." The fucking hotdog won't shut up.

_Oh my God… I'm going to be beaten to death by a wiener._

"Seiji"

_I could fight and win against an army of demons and demon warlords, and I'm going to die at the hand of a whore hot dog. What an embarrassment._

"Seiji"

"Just get it over with you fucking wiener whore!"

"Excuse me?"

As the wiener faded, it was replaced by worried green eyes and a pale complexion. Shin stared at me.

"What did you just call me?"

"What's a wiener whore?"

"Jun, come here, Seiji's sick, he's talking nonsense."

_Please tell me this is a part of the dream… _Finding myself completely awake, on the couch in Nasty's living room, I cursed the fates. " I… ah…"

"Was having a nightmare?" The blue haired teenager standing directly behind Shin had an eyebrow raised. " I told you we shouldn't have given him a sedative."

"You gave me drugs?" That would explain the absurd dream. Drugs and I don't get along very well.(2)

"I thought you were going to kill someone." Nasty defended herself from the chair across the room, where she was keeping Jun hostage on her lap.

"He very nearly did." Shuu's tone was serious, but he was grinning. "We're lucky Touma-kun is so strong."

In response, Touma himself just shrugged and wandered off into the kitchen, presumably in search of food.

_As if it could get any worse. _"He carried me home?"

All of a sudden, the light mood disappeared.

"Do you remember what happened?" asked Shin, watching me anxiously.

I blinked… What did happen? I went for a walk… I was running… And there was something dark. Out loud, I said, "It doesn't make sense. Some of them were memories. But the other ones… the others didn't happen. Shuten couldn't have… I mean, Kaosu…he died."

Shin, Shuu, Nasty and Jun all looked confused.

"Have you ever seen the future before, Seiji?" Touma's reasonable voice came floating out of the kitchen.

"Uhm… Just… a couple of times… I've had dreams..." I groaned, remembering the pain in the visions from earlier. "It's never happened when I've been awake… before now."

"If you saw the future… and Shuten was there, you said?" Shin frowned, digesting the information.

I shuddered, suddenly cold with the implications of what I had seen. "We didn't defeat Arago. He's still alive… There's… we're going to fight him again."

All of the faces in the room darkened. Shuu swore quietly. Shin had lost all colour from his face. I rested my head against the backrest of the couch, feeling my massive headache returning. Touma came back into the living room to perch on the armrest beside me, food forgotten.

Jun, his face sombre, stated what all of us were thinking: "You did it before."

Shuu picked him up and swung him around in the air. "Yea, we did! We can do it again!"

"I'm not a little kid you know." Jun said, probably a little annoyed at Shuu's gesture.

"Anybody for pancakes?" asked Shin, standing up, his face still pale. Shuu followed him into the kitchen, as did Nasuti and Jun. All was silent. I didn't really care though. I was trying to make my headache go away.

"We still need groceries." Touma broke the silence. "You feel up to taking a trip into town?"

_Not really. _"Yea, sure." I tried to stand up, and just about fell over. Talk about a major head rush. Touma wordlessly steadied me by grabbing my elbow, a blue eyebrow raised. He followed close behind me out of the living room into the kitchen. I took the grocery list off of the table, and grabbed my jacket, Touma pretty much stuck to my back through the entire process. I turned around, and his shoulder was only six inches from my face. "Thanks, but I really am fine, I won't fall on my face from here to the car." He and the rest of the traitors in the kitchen all gave me slightly dubious, pointed stares. "Really, I can walk." As they all looked at each other, I took the opportunity to escape out the door and into the yard. Slipping inside into the passenger seat of Nasty's jeep, I rested my head against the cool glass.

"You really don't have to go, I'm pretty sure I can find the stuff in the store myself." Touma said, sliding in behind the wheel.

"Who'd keep you out of the bookstores?" I replied, smiling, my eyes still closed. The car started, so I guess my answer was satisfactory. It really was a nice day, I thought, looking out the window while sun streamed through the trees of the forest lining Nasuti's long driveway. Feeling eyes on me, I looked over at Touma, catching him in the act of staring. "The road is out there." I pointed out the windshield.

"Right." He turned his attention to the upcoming motorway. I shook my head to clear it. For a minute, I could have sworn Touma was blushing. I went back to the scenery, wishing my mind would quite playing games with me. Fortunately, Touma seemed to understand my silence. He didn't say anything more on the drive into town.

We pulled into the parking lot for the small grocery store in downtown Shinjuku. Touma cut the engine and sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"Thanks." I said, breaking the easy silence. Touma looked at me quizzically. "For… not talking…" _Oh my. _"Did that… sound as stupid to you as it did to me?" I asked, putting my forehead on the now warm window.

"You're allowed a period of repose." Touma said, opening the door. He stepped out onto the sunlit concrete. "Do you really want to go into that store while it's so nice outside?" He wrinkled his nose at the market in question.

"You're hungry." I stated, jumping out of the jeep and coming around to join him on the driver's side.

He grinned. "Yea."

"Let's go find a restaurant where we can eat outside then." I said, carefully concealing the nausea that rose as I thought of food.

He studied my face, while I tried to look innocently interested in the weeds growing through the concrete. "I can wait. You don't want to go into the store either though,do you?"

"I'll be fine." I told him for the second time that afternoon.

He raised his eyebrow. "You really want to go in there, and walk around amongst the dead fish and red meat?"

_What imagery. "_Well, no. But I think I can handle a restaurant. " I said, willing myself not to puke on him.

"Hmmm. Alright, let's go." We started walking towardsa series of restaurants,enjoying the sunlight. And then we rounded a corner, finding ourselves right in front of a hotdog vender.

"Fresh Hot Dogs. Get your Franks here!" He yelled, waving a sausage exuberantly as he did so. I, for my part, found myself unable to move. When the offensive odour had hit me, my dream had come back all at once. Touma was hovering worriedly beside me. When the man just about clipped my face while waving his wiener, (3) I started, turned around, stumbled about four steps into an alley, and disgorged. Twice. When I backed out of the confining side street, Touma put his arm around my waist, and guided me down the block to a bench. I leaned into the back of it gratefully, while Touma disappeared momentarily, returning with a glass of water from a nearby café. He handed it to me, and sat down. Swilling water around in my mouth, I got up to spit it out in a garbage can.

"Sorry." I mumbled into my cup, too embarrassed to look at my friend.

"Drink." He replied, not sounding at all annoyed, which surprised me a little. I obliged, draining the glass, and feeling a little better.

"Do you want any more?" Touma asked, his hand on my shoulder.

"No thank you." I answered, still a little hoarse. The glass was lifted out of my hands, presumably to be returned to the café. My shoulder was suddenly cold where the warmth of Touma's hand had been. After five minutes, he came back from the café.

"What now?" He mused. I couldn't tell if he was talking to himself or me, but I answered anyways.

"Aren't you hungry?"

He grinned at me. "Already taken care of."

I gaped at him. He reached over and placed his fingers under my chin, closing my mouth for me, still grinning. I opened it again almost immediately, "You and Shuu! I swear neither of you even chews your food! I can't believe it only took you five minutes to order AND eat! You're going to end up with digestive problems… I don't think I can even eat ice cream that fast! And--" I was cut off. Completely and effectively. Because Touma had leaned in very, very close to me. In fact, his lips were only centimetres from mine. For a couple of seconds, my heart stopped, and then started up with a vengeance, attempting to beat itself out of my chest.

"I—" Touma started, and was interrupted by, of all things, a young child, who had tripped, spilling her chocolate milkshake all over the both of us. The child's mother came running over, hurriedly apologizing in a language that sounded something like English. I was already too bemused to respond, but Touma just smiled at the woman and handed her daughter the cup with the remaining shake in it.

"C'est d'accord mademoiselle. C'était une accident."

The woman looked at him oddly, and said in her language, "Je n'ai pas rencontrer personne avant ca qui pouvait parler du français."

"Ah, oui, ce n'est pas une langue très populaire en Japon." Touma smiled. The child grinned at him and the woman took her hand, also smiling. "Vraiment, c'est d'accord, vous avez l'air des personnes qui sont en retard pour quelque chose d'importante."

"Oiu, ah, merci beaucoup." She said, and the two began to walk away.

The little girl turned and waved "Au revoir Monsieur Bleu!" Touma waved back at her. (4)

"When did you learn French?" I asked him, standing up.

"Uhm… In grade two. The English teacher decided I needed something to do other than read."

"Didn't you do any work in English class?"

"I could already speak it. My mother taught me." He mumbled, blushing.

"You're amazing." I sighed, wondering what it would be like to not have to struggle to understand even a difficult language.

"I hate it." His face was dark. "Sometimes… people… just… never mind." He brightened, looking me up and down. "What are we going to do now?" Distracted from his surprising outlook on his own brilliance by the question, I looked down at my chocolate covered clothes.

"Go swimming?" I suggested.

"In clothes?" Touma wrinkled his nose at me. "Nah, that won't work. Besides, I've only got it on my sweater." He proceeded to pull the stained garment off, revealing a blue shirt underneath. "But you, my friend," He gave me another once-over, "Are definitely going to need to change."

I looked down at myself again, agreeing with him. The jeans and yellow shirt were soaked through with milkshake. I found myself not at all sorry at the destruction of the shirt. The jeans were regrettable, but living without the bright yellow atrocity I could manage. "Okay. So I guess I'm going clothes shopping." _Great. _I hate clothes shopping.

xxxx

We stood at the cash register in a second-hand shop, Touma looking over a curious collection of fake jewelry under the counter while I paid for my newly acquired articles of clothing. I hadn't bothered to take them off when I came out of the change room, and wore the green button-up dress shirt and khaki knee-length shorts out of the store. (5)

"Hey," Touma said, his eyes lighting up, "I've got an idea. Let's get the groceries, and then we're going to take a hike."

"A hike? To where?" I prodded.

"You'll see." He replied. "Do you want to wait in the jeep, or do you feel up to coming into the market?"

"I'll wait in the car, I think." I answered lightly. I was still recovering from the hot dog incident.

xxxx

An hour later, as the sun was setting over Shinjuku, we stood atop a half built skeleton of a skyscraper that had been abandoned by the construction crew much earlier that day.

"No one seems to remember a thing." I murmured, looking out at the beginnings of nightlife in the city.

"Mhmm." Touma agreed. "It looks pretty good too, even the earth healed itself."

"Yeah." I looked at him. He was watching the cars on the highway below. He looked beautiful against the pink and purple streaks of sky behind him.

"It's nice. At least we're not fighting any battles." He glanced at me, and added, "Right now."

I stared sadly back at him, and then looked down at the people on the streets below, remembering how their life energies had gone out, one by one in my vision. Shuddering, I forced myself back to the present, and as I focused on the scaffolding beneath my feet I felt Touma put his hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, we should head back." He also regarded the bustling population below, his features twisting into a grimace of anguish, if only for a moment.

xxxx

"Ugh." I felt nausea taking hold of me as we turned a corner on the steep, twisting road back to Nasti's house. Touma said nothing, and just pulled over at the next rest stop on the forest encompassed highway. "Thanks." I said, and got out of the jeep as fast as I could. Touma also exited the vehicle. He walked over to the fountain and took a drink.

"I needed that." He walked back over to the car. "Are you alright?"

"No." I whispered. Something was terribly wrong. I could Feel the Dynasty. It was nearby.

"Seiji?" Touma started towards me, and froze, staring at the sky. Thunder crashed, and lightning tore through the sky. Hair rising on the back of my neck, I covered my head with my hands and crouched, blinded and deafened by the sudden flash of light and magic before us. It split the ground and disintegrated trees. I looked up when the blinding light had disappeared. A low rumbling shook the ground as I stood up. I heard Touma gasp as a Dynasty Gate rose from the ground.

"Get your armour on!" I shouted at him, beginning to call mine. Once my underarmour was in place, I felt a lot safer. I could face an army of youja better if I was armoured fully, but at the moment, I didn't have the strength to call Korin. By the looks of Touma, he felt the same way. We both looked at the gate as its doors began to open. The army of Youja I had been expecting didn't come. Instead, a single warrior, in full armour, stepped out from the threshold.

"Hello Troopers." A gravely, low voice came from his helmet. It was one of the most frightening voices I had ever heard. I pushed my fear back, and let my face become unreadable. My battle mask. "I am Sarenbou. Which of you has it?" Touma launched himself at the demon, I followed, but we never connected. It seemed as though he wasn't solid. The blows that sent us both reeling, however, were quite solid.

Standing up, my head aching, I glanced around for Touma. He was already up, and from the look on his face, trying to figure out how to attack this semi-opaque fiend.

"Which one of you has it?" Sarenbou demanded, his weapon raised.

"You'll just have to guess." I said, sounding a lot calmer than I felt.

"We'll see." he said, laughing. Lightning arced from his staff, trapping Touma and I. Agony was all I could feel. The lightning seemed to be traveling through me, searing every nerve. After scouring my body and mind, it suddenly stopped, and I fell to the ground, panting. When I looked up, Sarenbou was gone. Touma stared at me, breathing heavily.

"What in the fuck was that?" He swore at nothing in particular.

"I don't know. We have to get back and tell the others." I stated the obvious, because there was nothing else to say.

"Looks like the break's over." Touma started the jeep while I got in.

"Yeah," I agreed, studying the destruction caused by the Dynasty Gate, "Break's over."

* * *

1) For those that don't know, WWF stands for World Wrestling Federation. It's WWE now, but I figured more people would recognize WWF...So.. mleh.. (The world wrestling foundation is where men jacked up on steroids dress in spandex and beat the crap out of each other with chairs, themselves, the referee, etc.)

2)Drugs and I don't get along either. Oh My Pies. Ihad this dream once, when I had taken NiQuil (copyrighted),and there were cabage monsters that disguised themselves as humans, and there was a faomie bank, and I was pac-man. I got assymilated by the cabage people.I woke up confused. This hot dog dreamwas inspired by that one.I have a food fetish.

3) Doesn't that justproduce an image? I just about re-wrote that part, but I decided to leave it because I got a real kick out of it. (I was bored. Sue me)

4) For those that do not know french, the convorsation goes like this:

_**Touma: **"C'est d'accord mademoiselle. C'était une accident." :_**It's alright Miss, it was just an accident. **

**Woman:**_"Je n'ai pas rencontrer personne avant ca qui pouvait parler du français."_**Before this, I hadn't met anyone who could speak french. **

**Touma:**_"Ah, oui, ce n'est pas une langue très populaire en Japon."_**: Ah, yes, it's not a very popular language in Japan.**

"_Vraiment, c'est d'accord, vous avez l'air des personnes qui sont en retard pour quelque chose d'importante." _**: Really, it's alright, you guys look like you're late for something important.**

**Woman: **_"Oiu, ah, merci beaucoup." _**: Yes, thank you very much.**

**Little girl:**_"Au revoir Monsieur Bleu_**_!"_: Goodbye, Mr. Blue!**


End file.
